Someone clever explain this weird phenomenon to me. Car stereo related.

[LadyFlumpalot]

Ok. So bare with me, I'll try to explain this as best I can.

Every time I drive down the A36 to or from Bath, just as I go through a village called Woolverton, my car stereo cuts out and I want to know why. It's baffling me.

1. It's not the radio. It does it on Spotify, Apple Music AND CDs so it's not a question of signal or buffering.

2. It's the same spot every time, both directions and lasts for 5-10 seconds each time.

3. It doesn't happen anywhere else.

4. The stereo is still on, whatever song is playing stutters, as if it were poor signal or interference - but it does it with CDs as well as Spotify and Apple Music (which is a pre downloaded playlist so no loading to do) it's almost as if something is causing the actual CarPlay system to pack in for a few seconds.

Attached is a map of the area.

Anyone have any idea what's going on, or has anyone else experienced this? I drive this road once or twice a month and it's starting to do my head in that I can't figure out what's causing it!

Answer's in the name.

WOOlverton

😂

Aliens

Ha, yeah, should have seen that!

Also, to add to the general Woo, it's only started happening since an old farmhouse by the road was ripped down and a new house built. Maybe a released lost soul disapproves of music whilst travelling!

Witches, probably.

Leylines?

Maybe because you're surrounded by woo places like Glastonbury, Avebury and Stonehenge. A bit like the Bermuda Triangle of the west country.
I'm not far from you. My radio would cut out when I drove past Keynsham cemetery.

My car stereo is definitely haunted too. I was listening to radio 5, when my mum called. The speakers made a whooshing, gurgling, sound, and radio 5 disappeared. I spent months resetting, rebooting, the dealership reset everything, but radio 5 didn't return.

Then, nearly a year later, I was on the phone to my mum...same whooshing, gurgling sound, and radio 5 came back.

My mum doesn't live near your village though, sorry.

That's odd OP.

I listen to podcasts via Bluetooth in the car, and often when I drive through one village it cuts out or pauses. It never happens anywhere else... I'd sort of assumed that it was just my phone being funny after playing for a certain amount of time or something, a glitch, but it'a only on that route, in that village. It happened in my old car too (playing from the same phone).

Will be watching the replies with interest. Hope you figure it out (and it's not an evil spirit 🤞)

Bob Richardson at No 43 has a short Wave radio that causes interference with all local radios, shorts them out and they don't work right. You've got to pop your car into Rob Richardson at the electrical shop to have it adjusted, only £20.

Some of the villagers say it's a scam, but Tony Richardson at the paper and Father Richardson at the Church hall both say it's above board. PC Richardson and Dr Richardson back them up too and Claire Richardson the local solicitor.

Nah, you've got it confused. The Richardsons live in Norton St Phillip. It's tje Robinsons in Woolverton and they don't hold with this short wave new fangled nonsense.

Ooooh not just me then!

Ahhh, I'm the other side of Bath, near Frome. I try to avoid going anywhere near Bristol in the car. Last time I got stuck driving around the city centre. It was like the Blair Witch Project. It didn't matter what road I took, I ended up back at the same carpark I'd started at. I ended up having to go all the way up to the Cardiff corner to get to the M5 when I really wanted to go back past Temple Meads and out that way!

There's somewhere near me that affects my car radio like that. When I drive past the building the radio completely cuts out for a few seconds. It is occupied by some techy computer business with half a dozen great satellite dishes and aerials on the roof, so I've always put it down to their gadgetry interfering with the signal.

I've often wondered why a different radio station will sometimes 'take over' for a few seconds in certain places. Like, you are in the middle of a song and all of a sudden, you get a two second blast of a totally different song, before going back to what you were listening to before. What's all that about???

Possibly the road has a slightly different camber which causes a glitch or short-out in the wiring on that section of road. Happens to me on the way to drop off or pick up DS from football practice...I used to call it the haunted road, until Dh came with me on one occasion and said it was dodgy wiring combined with slightly angled road! He replaced the stereo system and our ghost has now gone. It only ever happened on one stretch of road, potholes never seemed to cause the issue.

Boring answer is it's probably electromagnetic interference, but I'm not sure what would be causing it. Maybe the new house is home to a mad scientist with a Tesla coil.

How old was the farmhouse? Music hating Puritans were Stuart era.

Is there an overhead power line? Maybe the signal was blocked by the old farm house but now 'gets through'. There is a short wave transmitting station near by.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woofferton_transmitting_station

Sorry wrong place I mixed up the ff for the lv

I work for a power company, one possible explanation is power lines. When an overhead cable goes over an insulator, you are supposed to put s little semiconducting sleeve over the cable where it touches the insulator. If you don’t it can cause interference. Do you connect to your car using Bluetooth? Bluetooth works in the electromagnetic spectrum just like radio and tv do, so the dodgy insulator would affect the Bluetooth connection.

Have a look around you where it cuts out, is there a pole with a metal crosspiece at the top and 2 or 3 insulators sticking up. From google maps there is a pole mounted switch to the south of woolverton and if the connectors aren’t seated properly, that can cause problems.

Druids. They love quiet😊

Oh that does sound likely. Yes I connect via Bluetooth and it is the south end of the village where it happens. I'll have a look next time as I drive through.

Only thing different is that it has done it when CDs are playing as well - BUT - the system is still connected to my phone so maybe it is having a moment anyway which causes the system to stop playing temporarily?

It could be, maybe they have charging port or something that's chucking off interference.

See, I KNEW someone clever would come along and offer a reasonable explanation.

My airpods receive interference when I cycle past a particular set of traffic lights. Electromagnetic spectrum and waves of a similar length are probably to blame.